Trials & Tribulations
by NighttimePhilosopher
Summary: (Name totally not taken from AA3, nooo...) A collection of stories centering around my amedot Gem Egg Hell AU. The majority take place after the gemlings are laid/born.
1. Playing

Your mamas _really_ like to wrestle and play.

It's the reason you're awake, actually. The noises and commotion they're making roused you from sleeping peacefully in the nest made for you.

You're wrapped up tightly in a blanket (comparable to what you'd later learn to call a 'burrito') that smells like them – they rubbed their scents on it to make you feel calm and safe in the event they aren't immediately cuddling you.

You roll your head right and are not surprised when you see your sibling sleeping soundly despite all the mewling. She - as an amethyst - takes after her carrier as having the ability to sleep through an earthquake, or even the flashing communication box blaring at a very loud pitch. She's even tricked her mother – the peridot, like you – on one occasion into thinking that her gem was cracked due to the lack of movement she exhibited when she was just sleeping. Not even poking woke her up.

Your gaze travels to your left where your mamas are play-fighting. Your sire is under your carrier and you think by her squeaks that your amethyst mother should let up what she's doing. You make a little noise yourself.

You can recognize that words tumble from her mouth, which you can see over a strong purple shoulder. You know that she's whimpering 'Amethyst' and that she's referring to your other mother, but you don't understand what she means by her consistent 'ah', a word she repeats over and over again. You are nearly at the age where you can communicate beyond kitten-like squeaks – one and a half years for your species – but right now you are restricted to listening and not speaking. But you do _a lot_ of listening and taking in. You'll terrify your parents later.

You wiggle in your burrito blanket. You're all served up but unable to go, limbs restricted in the soft bundle, only your small triangular head popping out from the wrap. Your mamas did this to keep you from being active at night under the guise of comforting you and you know this. You don't understand why your sibling accepts it so readily. The world is ripe for exploring. Just because it's harder to see at night doesn't mean it's not there.

You start to angrily squeak, attempting to convey your displeasure at being trapped in this faux cuddle. Your mothers get to play, so why don't you? Your tiny vocalisations, however, are nothing under the growls and cries your peridot mother makes, so they don't hear you. Or, it was in fact a contest to see who could go loudest, because your green mama starts to yelp very loudly. The big amethyst holds her down victoriously, like you did to the shelled creature you and your sibling found and ate when you played on the beach. The two seem to rock and bounce and you don't like how loud she gets. You start to screech.

They then seem to relax, the amethyst pumping a little more before you can really hear their purring and rumbly murmurs. They're happy. You're still not happy, meowing so loudly and widely that your sharp little teeth greet the caverns that your nest lay under. Your tiny claws tangle in the soft cotton you lay tangled in and your socked feet kick and stretch your manoeuvre room.

The amethyst's voice reaches your ears, and you recognize 'babies' – that's what they call you – and she crawls over to attend your discomfort. She avoids touching you with a certain hand, picking your bundle up with the other and cradling you to her purring chest. You feel her scratchy tongue brush through your hair comfortingly and you feel kind enough to decrease the volume of your 'pii's.

"Aww, did we wake you up?" she cooed, and you understand most of it through her tone and some words. She gives you a kiss on the top of your head, her plump lips still very large against your juvenile form. It makes you wiggle happily but you still want to get out of the blanket she holds you in. "It's okay, little boo…"

She lifts her head and you realise she's observing your sibling by the words she uses. "Your sister's still conked out, huh? What a cutie. Nothin' interrupts her beauty sleep, I can tell ya that."

You feel your carrier's body push forward, and you hear higher pitched purrs from behind her. The peridot's face appears through lilac hair over a bare purple shoulder, gazing loving down at you. While you have an audience, you poke your little pink tongue out, glaring up at them with beady black eyes. They both make delighted hushed noises.

You find yourself purring too, the happy feeling infectious. As they lie down with you and your quartz sibling, you establish that you aren't going to be released until morning. With two protective bodies lying around you, you find that you're now okay with that.

You give a little yawn, baring your needle-like teeth again before closing your eyes and letting the pleasant purrs of your mamas on either side of you aid you in returning to slumber.


	2. More?

Mama Amethyst is changing. You notice that her scent has become different and that mama Peridot focuses all her time and energy on her instead of balancing it between her and you. You're okay with that though because now you're two and that means you're more independent. You can eat solids instead of just what Amethyst produces from her body for you. She actually seems to want you to feed from her less, pushing you away and saying 'I'm sore'.

Yesterday, when you were playing with Steven's controller with your peridot sibling when you weren't meant to, you heard mama Peridot growl. You hadn't heard her do that since you were very little because she was protecting you. You looked over the edge down to the seats below and saw your parents and Pearl. They all looked uncomfortable, and Peridot was standing funny in front of Amethyst, like she was going to attack Pearl. Pearl backed away and said something quietly to them. The scene got boring very quickly so you turned to your sister and jumped on her. She squealed and you nibbled at her neck and she went still for you. You win.

Different babies were a foreign concept to you because YOU were the babies. So it was very confusing when your parents told you that _more_ babies were coming.

"what?" You squeak, because it's the only word you know to verbalise your confusion. You and your sister are listening very intently, standing on two legs to accentuate the point since you live on four.

"Look at my tummy," Amethyst says. "does it look any different to you?"

She lifts up her clothing and at first you don't know what she means. Then you feel that it _is_ a bit bigger like she was telling you, more curved than normal, maybe like she'd eaten a whole bunch. You still don't get the correlation between the belly and babies, but you know things are changing soon.

Amethyst gets you and your sister at a much later date to look at her belly again. It is much bigger, and smells like mama Peridot because she's been rubbing her cheek there recently. Peridot picks up your sister and puts her on the couch with Amethyst. They get her to put her tiny hand on the belly and feel around.

"Can you feel any lumps?" asks Peridot, and you watch your sister rove her green hand around lilac skin. "They're more likely to be around the bottom. Check the low part of her belly." She instructs. It takes a little while, but your sister keeps coming back to the same place. She keeps patting there and your mamas smile to each other. Peridot holds her hands out for you and you get put next to Amethyst's belly too. Up close, you can hear everyone purring. It's nearly like a song, and you add your own vocals to the mix. You press your similarly shaded hand to the purple skin where your sister is pressing, and instead of squishiness or smoothness, you feel something hard and resistant. Both of you knead there because you feel like you could move it if you apply pressure, and your carrier shifts and hisses quietly.

You both look up at her face and she's grit her teeth. Peridot pushes both of you away from Amethyst's belly gently. "Be gentle. There's an egg growing in there."

"egg?" Your sibling questions, cocking her triangular head and frowning.

"Yeah, like what you came out of!" Amethyst says.

You watch your sister point to herself. "me an' amfyss?"

"Yup!"

You add onto the conversation, pointing to where the hard lump was beneath your mama's skin. "baby?"

"Yeah kiddo! I thought we already told you this a while ago."

"Maybe they didn't understand." Says Peridot, looking at Amethyst.

"Sure sounds like it." The purple gem remarks. She looks back down to the both of you, her hands rubbing her tummy. "Sooo, there's little babies inside of eggs inside of me, aaand when they're done cookin' in there, imma pop 'em out and you guys'll have little sisters to play with! How cool is that?"

You already have one sister, and you like her even though she's bossy and noisy. More sisters is something you'd be okay with. The cuddle piles will be even bigger, and you'll be able to show your sisters the best things to do, like shredding open a pillow and letting the feathers out or digging a hole and hiding in it.

Your sibling's response is short, simple and outraged. "no more!"

Your mamas share a fearful glance. Uh oh.


	3. Introduction

You weren't finished playing with that toy, but your carrier thinks otherwise, threading her fingers under you to lift you up. You make a grunt but are otherwise unaffected, letting yourself be taken wherever life takes you. This ends up being your mother's breast, so you happily comply, taking the nipple in your mouth and pulling gently. Her chest is rumbling deeply and you can feel it, so you know she is happy. You feel safe, drinking while your mama converses. You just get to kneading when you hear a foreign voice and feel a foreign pressure at your back.

"Hello…" she says, and you keep feeding. Your mama will protect you if anything is bad, and nothing is bad because she is purring. You are pet on the head and back softly, mostly where your mane covers, by different and delicate fingers.

"She's super quiet and I'm not sure how much she takes in, but she'll love you. She loves everyone – heh, 'cept Lion. He scares them by accident and it's really cute." Amethyst pokes at you. "Hey, someone's here to see you. You wanna meet them?"

You're detached and you flick your tongue for extra. Mama turns you around and presents you to someone who is very blue. She has long legs and arms and short and shaggy dark blue hair. You don't know what to think of her, she's just there, looking down at you with an unsure expression on her face.

"Are you sure you're okay with me holding her?"

"Yeah Lappy, it's super okay. Here."

You're handed over and put into this new gem's lap. Her hands come to sit by your sides as you look up at her, giving a yawn. She gives a small smile at that.

"See? Super relaxed, what I tell ya?"

She smells like the ocean, which you were bought to a little while ago. You can feel her thighs under the faux fabric that she wears, which is different to yours in colour and shape. You press into her thigh in your attempt to get more comfortable, and her hands come around to balance you. You mew at her and she gushes like many adult beings do when you make that vocalisation.

"When will she start speaking?"

"I'm not sure, Pearl said something like a year and a half? Long way to go still, but I'm not complaining. I mean, how can you _not_ go 'aww' at those wittle noises?"

You mew because your mama is talking, and then you mew again because you want to be picked up. At first the new gem doesn't get it, so you mew again, crawling closer to her belly. Her hands follow you all the way like you are going to fall or get hurt. There's no danger here. You crane your neck all the way up and try to make contact with her eyes as you whine again and again. You paw at her tummy restlessly.

"Whelp, that's the call dude. Gotta pick her up now."

"Um, I, er, I don't know how to."

"Okay, so just like this…"

Four hands are now circling around you, two purple and thick and two thin and blue. Mama's hand lifts at your chest and the blue hand follows suit, her palm touching your gem. You mewl at all the attention and the fact that you are currently being lifted into the air. Mama lets go and the blue gem continues to hold you, just like you wanted.

"That's it, Lapis!"

There's a hand at your back and it comforts you gently, running down your fluffy hair before it all poofs up again. You love it and allow her to hear your purr, slow and relaxed. You sound like the stationary rumble of a machine your sire made.

" _There's_ a happy gemling."

"She's tiny, isn't she?"

"Yeah, at the moment she is. 'm not sure if she'll turn out like me or not. Just hafta wait and see."

"Yeah."

You listen to the background noise of their conversation, picking up a few words here and there. You soon find yourself getting very sleepy and you let your eyes droop.

"She's drifting to sleep again. She sleeps often. Do you get worried about that?"

"Nah. Their gems are super small, so they probably generate very little energy, y'know? Plus, the world's a tiring place."

The stranger gives a small laugh. "That's definitely something I'll always agree with."

You're passed back over after a short amount of time, propped on mama's shoulder. You feel her walking and you turn your head a little to see the blue gem walking beside you. She gives a small wave to you and you give her a big friendly yawn, showing your tiny teeth and tongue before you can't keep your eyes open anymore and she's blinked away from existence.

You know you'll see her again.


	4. More? Part 2

The new babies were here and you _hated_ them.

Your mamas made you and your sister sit with them in _your_ nest where _you_ were born and where _you_ lived out your early days. And now it was _theirs_.

Peridot keeps the both of you to her as you watch Amethyst groom them. You hate how there's _three_ of them and you hate how two of them are peridots. They endlessly whimper and grunt softly and you absolutely despise how your parents bend and cater to their every whim. They only hatched 20 hours ago, why were they suddenly so important? How come they were even more important than you when you'd existed longer?

The smaller gemlings couldn't even lift their shaky heads for extended periods of time, and they weren't going to be able to talk like you could for a long time yet. You watch the amethyst curl into a ball as Amethyst applies her tongue to her mane. It's absolutely…abrasive.

Supposedly you were all together because you were a family and families spent time together, but you didn't want anything to do with your new siblings. You don't want them stealing _your_ time with your parents and you don't like how they've changed everything. Because of them, nothing was going to be the same anymore.

Your attention is bought back to a perky little peridot mewling in your direction. She looks very similar to you and you wonder when she's bigger if your parents will mistake you for her. Amethyst murmurs something and the baby is picked up in her large purple hand. Now the mewing gemling is being bought towards you. You curl into Peridot's chest intolerantly, frowning.

Your amethyst sister makes a small noise and sticks a tentative hand out towards the excitable gemling. The little thing is wiggling in your carrier's safe hand as she's bought closer and your parents fawn over her energy. She was nothing different to you when you where that age. She was nothing new yet she got so much attention. In your mind, it wasn't fair!

You hiccup in annoyance as she's held closer and then you've had enough and you hiss threateningly, baring your fangs. You frighten the little baby and she flinches with a fearful squeak, setting off a chain reaction of the younger gemlings crying out for help, relaying the message of danger to your sire and carrier. You watch as the screeching peridot is pulled back to a gemmed chest and haphazardly comforted.

"Ugh, Zab!" Growls Amethyst as she tries to settle the upset babies. "Peri, d'you think-"

"On it."

You feel Peridot standing up and you're being taken to where all your toys are, surrounded by the white safety fence. You're happy because you think your sire is going to play with you, despite the time of night it was. Sadly, you realise that that was actually a clue that you were being separated and excluded for your 'undesired' behaviour.

"no no no no no!" you howl, raising your arms in a gesture to be picked up again. Peridot explains to you that you need to be quiet because the babies are trying to sleep. You know that they aren't! You were just there!

She makes her way back to the nest and you scream your disapproval via high-pitched noises. She turns around and comes back and you feel proud that you still have authority over her. You ask to be picked up by again by raising your arms but she only grabs a toy from a pile and shoves it into your outstretched hands.

"You need to behave yourself now that you're an older sister." She tries to appeal to your pride by referring to your age. It works to the extent that you stop making 'baby noises'; communicating through squeaks and mews. You realise that those make you like _them_.

Peridot trots back to what she obviously finds more important and you keep from calling her back like you usually do. You look down to what was given to you. You squeeze it with your claws and it wheezes and squeaks. It's a loud and obnoxious noise and you freeze to look at what you can of your mamas and siblings. The beach house is dark so you can't see them too well, but you can see Peridot settling back protectively next to Amethyst. All goes quiet. You get a horrible, fantastic idea.

You put the squeaky toy in your mouth and bite down, creating a ridiculously loud squeaky noise. Amethyst and Peridot's heads pop up and you hear a few baby whimpers. You make the sound consistent and it litters the Beach house before a yell pierces through, followed by a chorus of gemlings crying in fear.

"Zabargad!"

You know you're in for it now. Serves them right for ignoring you.


	5. Test

The day was sleepy and quiet, not much going on in Amethyst's room apart from a relaxing rest. An idea floated through Amethyst's head and she decided to voice it.

"Hey, Peri?"

Peridot looked over with attentive eyes from balancing a curled-up Dream on her chest. The gemling's kitten-like lilac form contrasted comfortably with Peridot's sharp green. "Hmm?"

"Which of us d'you think the babies'll come to if we called 'em?" Amethyst asked, ignoring Zabargad, who sharply kneaded her rising and falling stomach as she sat on it.

Peridot looked confused. "Elaborate. I don't gotch yo numbah."

Dream squeaked as she didn't sense Peridot's arms close to her. Thin hands returned in amendment.

"If we stood at like, opposite ends of the sofa or somethin' and called them to us. Who would they go to?"

"Oh!" Dream nearly flung off Peridot's chest as the apple green gem sat up sharply. Luckily, the baby wasn't too perplexed, nuzzling as arms continued to hold her. "We should test that out! Right now!"

Amethyst lazily smiled at her enthused mate, sitting up and scooping Zabargad, who nibbled her pudgy fingers. "Heheh, be prepared to be lonely, Peri-babe. I got the power of being the _food source_ on _my_ side!"

They decided to stand at opposite ends of the kitchen bench, Amethyst more towards the front door and Peridot in the direction of the warp pad. They'd placed the gemlings in the middle, between the stools there. Dream was still very sleepy and was lying down while Zabargad climbed over her, the peridot gemling turning her head back and forth between Amethyst and Peridot in curiosity.

"'Kay Peridot, you ready?" Amethyst whispered, avoiding raising her voice as to not excite the young gemlings just yet (they might've started coming towards her already if she'd done so).

Peridot gave a very Garnet-inspired thumbs up, and they both bent down on their haunches silently. Amethyst held up three fingers, then two, then one, and suddenly they were yelling and hooting and calling to their gemlings in a vocal game of tug of war. The tiny creatures looked bewildered – especially Dream, who was shocked awake – as their sire and carrier made clapping gestures with their hands, showing their biggest smiles and beckoning them over with their speech. Zabargad seemed the first to move so they both cooed to her.

"Heeeyy Zabby! Zab, c'mon Zab, c'mere and give me a _biiiig_ cuddle!"

"Zaaab! _Zabargad_! The _correct_ choice is over with _me_!" Peridot pointed her thumb to herself proudly.

"No no, don't listen to _her_ , Zabargad! _Me me me_!"

The juvenile peridot seemed to decide fairly quickly who she wanted to go to. She trotted over to Peridot and chirped as the adult gem picked her up.

Peridot looked incredibly smug at Amethyst, her lips quirking. "Nyeh heh heh…"

Amethyst looked desperately over at the other amethyst in the room, pleading with Dream to come to her. "Dream!" she held out her arms for a cuddle. "Um, err, _Famethyst_?"

Dream's deep eyes revealed her confusion to the world. She saw that her sibling had gone to her beckoning sire and reasoned that was where she needed to go. She sluggishly crawled the path to Peridot's arms, and it didn't matter how loud Amethyst got her raspy voice because Peridot already had two gemlings in her arms.

Amethyst fell forward and lay in a sad heap, her rear in the air. "B-But…I'm the _food mama_!"

Peridot nuzzled and kissed the clinging gemlings, who made happy noises at being praised. When she looked at her mate, she felt a pang of guilt upon looking into Amethyst's defeated face.

"I'm just…really self-conscious about them liking me." She mumbled as Peridot kneeled down next to her. "After…well, me not liking _them_ for a long time."

Zabargad and Dream clambered out of Peridot's grip, pattering to Amethyst's sad chubby face and mimicking it.

"It's okay to feel that way sometimes." Peridot purred, bowing and resting her head in Amethyst's mane. "It shows that you care. Just know that they love you." As if on cue, the gemlings rubbed against Amethyst's cheeks affectionately, each purring gently. " _We_ love you."

"Aww, you guys…Thanks…"


End file.
